The Impact of Generative AI in Thesis Writing Support on Research Quality of Postgraduate Students: Mediating Role of Writing Confidence

This research explores the effects of generative AI tools on the thesis writing assistance and research activities of postgraduate students, paying particular attention to the mediating influence of confidence in writing. Information was obtained from 231 respondents—who are postgraduates from various Pakistani universities—through structured questionnaires. SPSS 23.0 was used to conduct a number of statistical analyses such as reliability and validity testing, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and mediation analysis to test hypothesized relationships among constructs. The findings indicate that the application of generativeAI tools markedly improves the students’ research quality by increasing their confidence in academic writing. In addition, writing confidence was identified as a crucial mediating factor that linked AI assistance with better research outputs. These findings add to our knowledge of the use of digital technologies, and generative AI in particular, as powerful facilitators of achieving academic excellence. The research advances the debate on technology-enhanced learning by providing concrete recommendations on the use of AI tools in the postgraduate education system of Pakistan.